There’s apparently a fake mosque on a military base in Canada. But the Canadian Armed Forces, or CAF, promise it’s not used for training with live ammunition.
A Muslim man who came across the mosque on publicly accessible military grounds said it was the first time he ever felt not welcome in Canada.
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Mahmood Mourra was out hunting with friends in the Alberta prairie, about 250 km southeast of Calgary, when he first spotted the fake mosque, the CBC first reported last week. He told VICE World News he was “aggravated and confused” when he saw it. Mourra said he emigrated to Canada from Lebanon right after 9/11, but this was the first time he considered if he was “really in the right place.”
Lieutenant-Colonel Lena Angell, director of the army’s public affairs, told VICE World News that British armed forces using the base for training put up the mosque in 2006 as part of a simulated village. The fake mosque was used to train British soldiers for the war in Afghanistan and, Angell said, it was only used for non-live fire training and never by Canadian soldiers. The structure is still standing but is scheduled to be deconstructed next year.
A UK Ministry of Defense spokesperson told VICE World News the mosque is used in tandem with cultural advisors to “teach soldiers how to interact appropriately with Muslims and respect protected sites.”
“The training area in Suffield contains buildings resembling mosques to provide a realistic environment reflecting recent operations, and help educate soldiers about how to interact with different cultures and religions,” the spokesperson said. “They have not been targeted with any form of munitions.”
Mustafa Farooq, the CEO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, told VICE World News that he’s “gravely concerned… Many Canadian Muslims have reached out to us, flabbergasted, as to why such an installation exists.”
“We are skeptical of the notion that the mosque had to be installed to teach soldiers not to attack it. Indeed, the construction of a mosque to teach soldiers not to commit war-crimes is deeply concerning,” said Farooq.
The U.S. military uses similar simulated villages built on military bases that contain fake mosques for training soldiers where they are reportedly used in combat scenarios. Other mock training villages have also been put up in the UK where, during the height of the war, were staffed with Afghan asylum-seekers.
Angell said the Canadian military was using a similar structure at their main training base in Wainwright, Alberta, but it was decommissioned in 2011 after “such infrastructure no longer fit operational requirements.” Angell said the CAF has several other virtual and physical training environments that have buildings that replicate places of worship, schools, graveyards, and hospitals.
“Introducing ‘protected sites’ into training scenarios adds a level of complexity which soldiers must address,” Angell said. “In doing so, soldiers have an opportunity to illustrate and confirm their understanding of international humanitarian laws before applying them to real-world operations.”
The British army’s presence isn’t exactly unexpected: British forces have been using the land the fake mosque is on in Alberta as a training ground since 1972.
Angell said the training is meant to make the soldiers more “culturally sensitive,” not less.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims is now talking with the national defence minister and Farooq told VICE World News he is “confident that this will result in a positive resolution.”
Mourra said that after coming forward with his concerns he was contacted by military officials who were “respectful.” He said he understands that special training may be needed but does not know why the mosque was set up in an area where Muslims could see it.
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